Midsize Sedans 2.0

Comments

I agree on the weather deal. It isn't often we get single digit cold, and with the kids either out of school or two hours late opening, parents have no time, and no desire; to go out in the cold to buy a car. I don't even want to go out to MY car!

Except if you add up the sales by automaker, it's closer, e.g. Hyundai/Kia selling almost 20,000 for the month, and Chrysler nearly 15,000--which is amazing given how the 200 and Avenger are the worst mid-sizers in the bunch. If Chrysler can sell 15,000 of those turkeys, they should do very well with the new 200.

....Now, after Ford added a second factory of Fusion production late last year, the challenge will be maintaining prices that Ford said average almost $24,000 a car. Fusion sales fell 8 percent last month.

Challenge coming

"The big challenge won't be until the first big automaker really breaks ranks on pricing and we approach a market top and we see how people deal with it," Wakefield said. "Dealing with growing 5 percent or 10 percent a year is a lot different than dealing with a reduction."

Scraping for sales in a slow market with bloated inventories could set off a price war, AutoNation's Jackson warned.

"High inventories, market-share ambitions, slower-growing market: The tinder is there this year," he said in an interview last month. "The last four years haven't been a real test for the industry. This year will be a real test."

Here in the Northeast NYC, we have another snowstorm today and a big one to follow this Sunday into monday. The Cars wont be moving anytime soon. This will mean more incentive and rebates and lower prices.. This is truly good news for the consumer.

**Here in the Northeast NYC, we have another snowstorm today and a big one to follow this Sunday into Monday
**

This has me thinking ahead to when my lease is up. Living in CT and commuting to the Bronx every day really puts a value on AWD/4WD for me. This AM if you didn't have AWD/4WD or snow tires you weren't getting very far. With a new 2015 coming out, there will be big discounts and great deals to be had on leftover 2014 Legacys.

Since my Fusion is in the body shop, I drove the Edge loaner today. It was really good in the snow. They are considered to be somewhat overweight, but it really pays off on a day like today. Even on slippery uphill starts, it didn't slip.

My Genesis R-spec with rwd is useless in this weather just going to let it sit in the garage another month til i could get it down to my house in Myrtle beach. Thank god for the awd/ 4wd suv's in this weather.
Amazing how many people with cars take a chance and drive in this kind of weather . Not to smart.

Nyccarguy

A left over 2014 legacy would be a excellent choice with 2015 models comming out in the fall....Let me know when you are going to buy. I know several dealerships that i dealt with.

Benjaminh said: ....Now, after Ford added a second factory of Fusion production late last year, the challenge will be maintaining prices that Ford said average almost $24,000 a car. Fusion sales fell 8 percent last month.

My car stickered at $24,000. Exactly average price for an average mid size sedan with above average looks I guess.

Yes, you are correct. I made it through many winters in the suburbs of NYC with my trusty, (but never rusty) 2001 Honda Prelude Type SH with FWD, a 5-Speed Manual Transmission, & a set of (minus 1) Michelin Pilot Alpin snow tires mounted on 15" steel wheels. 3 1/2 years ago I moved from my condo in Hartsdale, NY (Westchester County) to a house in Stamford, CT. They don't plow as well, they don't salt (people have well water), it is a little colder, we get more snow, have curvier back roads, and we've got a lot more hills... So I switched to AWD and haven't looked back. Regardless of the fact that I have AWD in my car and 4WD in my wife's SUV, I still drive cautiously in the snow & ice. I don't miss storing an extra set of tires & wheels plus having them switched 2x per year.

One thing Ford is not going to do is overproduce Fusions and drop the prices/increase incentives to move them. Any excess plant capacity in Flat Rock can be shared with Mustang and upcoming MKS and Taurus.

Bradd, Labor Day should be a perfect time to Devore a great lease deal on a 2014. I may be in the market around the same time, since that us right after when my daughter leaves to start college and I expect to have my driveway clearance sale.

@akirby said:
One thing Ford is not going to do is overproduce Fusions and drop the prices/increase incentives to move them. Any excess plant capacity in Flat Rock can be shared with Mustang and upcoming MKS and Taurus.

I sat in a Taurus SEL and ate my lunch at the auto show. Why? Because it was big enough for me and just as much that no one else wanted to. That's when I examined the center stack and found hugely misaligned panels, especially the nav screen, which had 1/4 to 1/2 inch gaps behind it just like C/D said. The interior materials were OK, but no where near as nice as my $10,000 less expensive Optima, or your $10,000 less Fusion.

@dudleyr
We are sold on AWD. It's there when you need it all year long. No drama, no trying to figure out when should I put on the winter tires or take them off. It can maximize the tires that are mounted on the vehicle. I tried to spin the Edge a bit in a parking lot. It just cut the power to keep it going in a circle. It won't help you stop, but you have to getting moving first, then you worry about stopping.

That's the perfect way to describe it. The AWD systems now are quite sophisticated and very transparent. 355 days a year my BMW's balanced, RWD chassis help it perform as advertised. When the weather turns white, I usually leave before the roads are plowed. I've got to open up at 7:30 AM.

Before so many manufacturers offered SUVs and cars with AWD, pick a house somewhere in New England. At least 1 car was a Jeep, Subaru, or Audi.

I loved my Grand Cherokee Laredo V8. Great handling in the snow. When I was in high school

I was handed down my fathers 1978 Plymouth Trail-Duster 4x4 white with red and orange stripes, 440 V8, and as always....dual exhaust. The top could be removed and driven as a convertible. Great first car!

Ford, like everyone else, has more capacity to build their midsize car than they have sales. Story from Wards auto about how both the Flat Rock and Mexico factories building the Fusion are taking down time to reduce inventories:

....Ford shifted some Fusion production to Flat Rock in August to meet escalating demand for the sedan and soak up unused capacity at the facility. Previously, the car was built solely in Mexico.

But since then, Fusion sales have cooled, with inventories rising to a 97-day supply at the end of January, despite two weeks of downtime at the Flat Rock plant during the month and 3-weeks of shutdowns at the Hermosillo, Mexico, facility so far this year.

Flat Rock utilization ran at only 43% in 2013, but a WardsAuto forecast calls for that to increase to 68% with Fusion added to the mix for the full year....

“There's more capacity (for) Fusion than there are sales right now...."

I always thought Ford was making better vehicles than GM.. Is it possible Gm has caught up?

Here in NYC/ 5 boro's. Our Sanatation dept has its offical car the Fusion. All white with orange and blue markings . I see alot of them thru the city. Mostly supervisor and bosses have them to check up on our garbage pick up and problems .

Ford has had a good run with there Crown vic's as yellow cabs in NYC for many years. Seems like as these cars get older they are being replaced with more Toyota hybrids, and Nissans.

Hey Gm Your no where to be found here????? Are you not in the car business..

Nissan new nv200 is the new mini/ box cab truck that has been approved to be one of the offical vehicles for city cabs. 12 thousand units will be made to start up production.

GM is getting much better. The new Impala is impressive. But it seems to be hit and miss - some great products, some not so great. And still no regular hybrids from GM - just the Volt and ELR.

Ford has done more of an across the board improvement on almost every vehicle but they seem to be having more engineering and parts issues now although I think that's a product of an accelerated development cycle to get to common global platforms and ecoboost engines for CAFE compliance.

Depends what you mean by a "regular" hybrid. GM has been building "mild" hybrids for years, including the Malibu. Call these "eAssist" I think. Not the same kind of hybrid system as used by the likes of Toyota or Ford, but gas engine with some electric assist. Also they now have the Spark EV, which may be the lowest-priced EV in the US.

@backy said:
Depends what you mean by a "regular" hybrid. GM has been building "mild" hybrids for years, including the Malibu. Call these "eAssist" I think. Not the same kind of hybrid system as used by the likes of Toyota or Ford, but gas engine with some electric assist.

I mean real hybrids, not just start/stop eassist mild hybrids that only get a few mpg better than the regular versions.